Lighting unit



Jan. 6, 1948. H, HANDLER 2,434,108

LIGHTING UNIT Fil ed Feb. 25, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet l I IN V EN TOR. W fiwvm 52 Jan. 6, 1948.

H. HANDLER LIGHTING UNIT Filed Feb. 25, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 6, 1948 LIGHTING UNIT Harry Handler, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor of onehalf to Nathan Dworkin, Brooklyn, N. Y;

Application February 23, 1946, Serial No. 649,457

This invention relates generally to electric lighting fixtures. More particularly, my invention is directed toward an improved construction for electrical spotlight fixtures.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a lighting unit of the character described, which shall be adapted for use as a spotlight and which shall be so constructed and arranged that the beam of light from said spotlight may be selectively directed angularly, and at the same time may be turned axially 360 degrees to thereby obtain substantial universal mounting for said spotlight.

Another object of my invention is to provide a lighting unit of the character described capable of being manually angularly adjusted, which shall have improved and novel means for maintaining the lamp structure at any such desired angularly adjusted position.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a lighting unit of the character described which shall comprise relatively few and simple parts, which shall be relatively inexpensive to manufacture and which shall represent a gen-.

eral improvement in the art.

Other objects of my invention will hereinafter be pointed out or will become apparent from the description to follow. I

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. l is a transverse sectional view of a lighting unit constructed and arranged in accordance with my invention and shown mounted in efiective position in a ceiling;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof with parts broken away to disclose the interior construction;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the device illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, dismounted from its position, and without the lamp'and lamp socket;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially, along the line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, but illustrating a modified form of my invention; and

Fig. '7 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 1-1 of Fig. 6.

Referring now in detail to Figs. 1 to 5 of the drawings, I have shown a lighting unit I0 con-' structed and arranged in accordance with my invention and mounted in effective position in a ceiling C.

As clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, my light- I ing unit I0 comprising a circular plate member I I provided with a rectangular opening 22. Piv- 1 Claim. (Cl. 240-78) I otally mounted on the plate I I, in a manner soon to be. described, is a shield member I2. Said shield member comprises a pair of spaced triangular shaped side walls I4 and I5 and an arcuate front wall I6. The said member I2 is completely openat the top and has a bottom wall ll which is provided with a, circular opening I8. Mounted on the member I2 for movement therewith, is an inverted U-shaped bracket 20. A suitable electric lamap socket S is fixedly mounted to the top wall 29a of the bracket 20, the sald socket S being adapted to receive therein a suitable spotlight or any other suitable lamp L of well-known and customary construction and shown by dot and dash lines in the drawing. The size of the opening I8 is such that the enlarged flared end of the lamp L will be substantially coextensive with said opening I8.

The following means are provided for pivotally mounting the member I2 on the plate I I:

Permanently attached to the edge Ila of the apertured bottom wall ll is a hinge section 26. Permanently attached to the plate II along an edge thereof adjacent the edge Ila are cooperating hinge sections 25. A hinge rod 21 is passed through the sections 25 and 26 to maintain the member I2 in pivotal attachment with the plate II. The above described hinge arrangement is so designed as-to permit the free pivotal movement of the member I2 in the rectangular opening 22, the arcuate wall l6 having the proper degree of curvature with respect to the edge Ilb of the wall ll so as to permit of such free movement.

It is thus seen from the above described construction that when the member I2 is pivotally moved about the bar 21 as an axis, the lamp L fixed to the bracket 20 will move with the said member I2, so that when said member I2 is in its uppermost position as shown in full lines in Fig. 1, the beam of light from the lamp L will be directed vertically downwards. If it is desired to throw the said beam of light further to the left such as, for example, to the position in dotted lines, as viewed from Fig. 1, it is merely necessary to pivotally move the said member I2 to the said dotted line position shown in Fig. 1.

In order that the beam of light from the lamp L may be thrown in any desired angular direction, I mount my'plate II in a suitable circular bracket 30 removably fixed to the ceiling C by the screw member 3 I, as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The said brackets 30 are so designed as to permit free manual axial rotational movement of the plate II. By the above described construction, it is noted that while the member 12 is in a selected angular position as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, the plate I! may be manually axially rotated to cause the light L to be thrown in any desired position, and to thus obtain substantial universal mounting. To facilitate the axial rotational movement of the plate ll, there may be provided a lug 33 on the said plate "I I, conveniently positioned, as shown in Fig. 1.

To limit the pivotal movement of the member l2 in a counter-clockwise direction, so that the bottom wall I! thereof will be flush with the plate II when the said member I2 is in its uppermost position, I provide a stop member 34 which comprises an abutment flange 35 fixed to the hinge section 26 so that the same will :move with the said member I 2. The said flange 35 is so de-, signed that when the bottom wall I! of the member I2 is flush with the plate II, it will effectively abut the said plate 11. A set screw 38, mounted on the flange 35 is provided sothat an'adiustment may be made to insure the proper alignment of the wall "It with the plate I I.

If desired, the opening 1 8 in the wall I] of the member 12 may "be covered with any t1ianslu'cent covering in order to avoid a "direct glare in the lamp L, and also to enable the user to obtain certain desired ornamental 'eifectsxby making the said "translucent member of different colors.

shown in Figs. :1 and I2, :a translucent member 40 is iresili eht ly supported by a .plmiality sof spring bracket members '41 eircu'mferentially arranged as shown in Fig. .2. "Thesaid brackets 41 may be permanently fixed to the wall 1! by any suitable attaching means, such as, for example, by spot welding, and the colored member 40 re-- siliently snapped into position.

As shown in Fig. 1, the entire lighting unit Zlll maybe encased within the wall :or ceiling '0 by a suitable casing 550 of the type generally known and usedin the art. An electrical connection 51 from a S'OulCe of supply (not shown) is provided. In this connection, it Iisnoted that :suifieient slack wire .52 is furnished to permit th unhampered pivotal movement of the :member l 2 as hereinbefore described.

In accordance with my invention, the following means are provided for automatically maintaining the member I i in any selected angular position along its path :of pivotal movement:

Referring particularlyto Figs. 2, 3 and' i, there is provided a pair of arms 60 and BI which are pivotally interconnected :at one end by means of the pivot shaft 62. The free end 6011 of the arm 60 is pivotallymounted ona wall lm of'the member I? by means of the pivot 62 carrie'dby said wall l4. The free end Bid or the arm Si is pivotally attached to the plate ll bythe pivot 63 fixed to said plate l l. As noted in Fig. 4, the arm 6| is provided on its inner surface thereof, in the area of the pivot 62, with a recessed portion 65 and the-arm iiil is also provided, in the same area, with a recessed portion 66 in alignment with the recessed portion '65 to form an annular hollow space between the arms 60 and 6|. The .arm '80 is provided'with an inwardly projecting 'hub .portion "67 which projects beyond the recessed portion '56 and into the recessed portion 65. Surrounding the hub El and interposed between the arms 60 and 6! is a spring tending normally to urge the said .arms apart. By proper adjustment of the nut 69 on the threaded end -of *the 4 shaft 62, the said arms 60 and 6| can be made to be constantly in resilient frictional engagement.

It is now seen from the above described construction that when the member I2 is pivotally moved from its uppermost position as in Fig. 1 downwardly to any desired angular position, means hav been provided whereby the said member l2 will be maintained in such last-named selected position.

In Figs. 6 and 7, I have shown a modified form of my invention for pivotally mounting the member I Z on the plate II. In this form, I provide a block 10 which is fixed to the plate II by any suitable means such as welding, and on which there-is fastened a flange H having a forwardly projecting overhanging arcuate portion 12. :Fixedly attached to the bottom wall I? of the member l 2 are a pair of fingers 13, each of which isdlsposed on opposite sides of the flange H and are provided with outwardly projecting arcuate portions M. A .rodmember is permanently attached to the fingers l3 by any suitable means such as, vfor example, welding, as shown in Fig. 7. The fingers 13 are so designed that the .rod 75 willnormally'rest upon the plate H and the flange H is so designed "so that its arcuate portion 72 will ipartially embrace the rod 15. The flange 1i may be provided with a slotted opening it :so t'hatthe arcuate portion 72 thereof may be suitably adziusted with respect t the rod 15. The advantageof thehinge arrangement of this modified -iorm of my invention resides in the fact that the member l2 may be more readily disassembled from the plate 1| I for purposes of repair, etc.

As noted in Fig. 3 of the drawings, each leg of the inverted u -shaped bracket 2t .may be provided with a slotted opening Bil designed to freely slida-b'ly receive therein a threaded shaft member fixed to the adjacent wall M .of the member 1 2 so that the said bracket 2.5! may :be elevated or lowered in accordance with different sizes and shapes of the lamp Luse'd. A butterfly nut B l or other suitable nu't member may be provided to maintain the :said bracket in selected position.

It will :thus be seen that there is provided a device in which the several objects of this invention ar achieved, and which is well adapted to meet the conditions 10f practical use.

various possible embodimentsfmlght be made of the above invention, and as various changes might 'be made in thezembodiment tabove setforth, it is to b understood that all matter herein set forth 'or shown in the accompanying drawings is to :be interpreted as illustrative and not "in a limiting sense.

Having =described myinvention, I :claim asnew and desire to secure by Letters (Patent:

A lighting .fixture unit of the character described, comprising 'a circular plate adapted to cover anopening in a :wall or ceiling, means for supporting said plate in eflective position over said opening and .for manually axially rotating said plate, a member, .said member comprising a rectangular bottom wall, a :pair :of "substantially triangular =side iwa'lls'and an arcuate front wall, said plate having a rectangular shaped opening formed therein to conform to the shape of said bottom wall-of said member so that said member is matinglyireeztoipass through said plate opening, :means :for pivotally mounting said member on said plat so that it may be manually .moved inwardlyand outwardly'throughsaid plate openingyan electric light socket carried :by said memberfor movement therewith,.=said member having a light opening formed in its bottom wall, said side and front walls of said member being imper- UNITED STATES PATENTS forate and opaque to prevent loss of light there- Number Name Date through, and means for maintaining said bottom 1,141,122 Kliegl Ju e 1, 19 5 wall of said member in a plurality of selected 5 1,433,080 l O 4, 19 angular positions with respect to said plate. 1,472,375 Landls NOV. 1 3 H RR HANDLER, 2,152,197 Levy Mar. 28, 1939 2,390,634 Aufiero Dec. 11, 1945 REFERENCES CITED 2,403,610 Pride July 9, 1946 The following references are of record in the file of this patent: 

